Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is on the defense with Tuesday's release of a new book by former Vice President Dick Cheney.

In a recent interview, Cheney said his memoir, titled In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir, would cause "heads to explode" in Washington.

The book accuses Powell of undermining former President George W. Bush and being disdainful of his policies.

Powell said his former friend is firing "cheap shots" to boost book sales.

"From what I've read in the newspapers and seen on television it's essentially a rehash of events of seven or eight years ago," Powell said of the new book.

"'It's going to cause heads to explode.' That's quite a visual," Powell remarked. "And in fact, it's the kind of headline I would expect to come out of a gossip columnist, or the kind of headline you might see one of the supermarket tabloids write."

"It's not the kind of headline I would have expected to come from a former vice president of the United States of America," he said.